Jeep J10 Fan Clutch

[NBD925]

I have a J10 with 258. It has the low end cooling system and I would like to upgrade. My truck has the fixed 4 blade fan. Can I order a thermal fan clutch and new Fan and do this upgrade?

Here are the parts I was looking at. Thermal Fan Clutch: AC Delco 1580245

Still haven’t found a fan. Any recommendations? 17 inch or bigger I don’t know what the stock 258 cooling fan was.

I don’t think I need a fan shroud as I have never had a cooling problem. The reason I am looking at this upgrade is to gain a little horse power and most important to keep the snow and water from packing up in my engine housing. When I drive in deep snow the snow will pack around my alternator and all the way to my starter relay. This seems to short something as I see a big draw in the lights and on my Volt meter. (Swapped out Amp meter for Volt meter when cleaning up my dash)

[tgreese]

If you have trouble with lots of snow and water in the engine compartment, an aftermarket electric fan might be better.

There was "heavy duty cooling" HDC offered on these trucks, but I don't recall whether it included a shroud, a 7or 8 blade fan and clutch, or both. IIRC the fixed fan is standard cooling. My J10 has standard cooling, but I had the radiator recored with an additional row (3 or 4 total?) and never had a problem.

The '74-80 Jeep factory parts book should show what was available. You can buy a copy on CD-ROM at RockAuto currently, or a much more expensive paper copy at BJ's. Less than $50 for both the '78 TSM and the parts book. Cheap. I'll try to remember to look once I'm home.

[NBD925]

I just got the huge paper parts book. I guess it shows the fan and blade number but does not say the total diameter. I have seen 17 and 18 inch listed on Amazon as aftermarket options.

Why go electric vs Thermal fan. I figured the thermal would probably not even be running much during the really snowy adventures and the electrical seemed more water sensitive on paper.

[Ristow]

Electric fan will be worse. These have a adequate cooling system at their best. They need a fan creating a low pressure zone behind the radiator a all times. Put a good clutch fan in. You could (should) go to the overall bigger C8 radiator too.

[tgreese]

What's a C8 radiator? V8 radiator? These 6-cylinder trucks have a narrower radiator than the V8s, and the choice of replacement radiators is limited to the standard radiator, as I recall. The V8 radiator won't fit the core support. When the shop recored my radiator, the box the thicker core came in said "Utility Truck" ... likely the dimensions are the same as the early 226 and 230 trucks.

[NBD925]

TGreese, I guess I can see a benefit in the electric fan option. I just saw a pictures of one installed. It is sucked right up against the radiator and would not blow snow and pack it everywhere. Any recommendations for an electric setup for this 258? I would like to see what I’m up against.

Ristow, the only reason I disagree at this point is that I have never had a problem cooling this jeep ever. And it had the fixed 4 blade fan now. I can barely get the needle to move into the green. I was actually worried about this and thought I was getting false readings. I replaced every gauge in the dash and got a new temp sensor. Flow Kooler water pump and Flow Kooler thermostat. I did go with a 180 but might switch back to the 195.

[tgreese]

[quote=NBD925]TGreese, I guess I can see a benefit in the electric fan option. I just saw a pictures of one installed. It is sucked right up against the radiator and would not blow snow and pack it everywhere. Any recommendations for an electric setup for this 258? I would like to see what I




Not sure what happened here ...

[tgreese]

Any recommendations for an electric setup for this 258?

Don't know specifically, but the CJ guys use an electric fan so they can shut down during water crossings. Seems like a similar problem. The Ford Taurus and Contour fans are both popular junkyard solutions. I'm sure there are others. Lots on the 'net about this and aftermarket fans if you search.

[Ristow]

yes V8. and yes you need to swap or modify the core support but i see this instance cooling has nothing to do with it.



id go with a clutch fan myself. i think hes gonna find that snow packing in there is not coming thru the radiator,it is coming up thru the bottom of the engine bay, and fan choice has little to do with it other than minor distribution..

[babywag]

I have several oe style mechanical fans laying around send me PM if interested.

[NBD925]

Does anyone have an idea how the fan attaches to the thermal fan clutch. Are there special studs? My old 4 blade fan with no clutch just bolted on with 4 bolts. The parts manual looks like the studs come in from the back.

[NBD925]

Searching the internet I may have found an answer but I’m not sure as I don’t have original parts but I found someone taking about 4 studs that were 1/4-20 x 1 inch long attached to the water pump flange.

Does this sound correct?

[78 WIDETRAC]

Yes, that sounds correct. My V8 water pumps have had studs in them.

[letank]

thermal clutch

typical example of a fan clutch on the V8, of course I like to mess up with parts, this is a 1985 mercedes 560SL fan and fan clutch on a FSJ 360 V8, smaller fan at 17", but more blades, here tested at the junkyard and installed on the 85... as a note the 560 fan is a bit closer to the radiator than the oem, and the 6 cyl has a different configuration, you can download the TSM and parts manual from Tom collins oljeep site to see the parts list, pick the 79 or the 82 TSM, the 79 is easier to follow as page numbering , the 82 has a drawing of the 6cyl with the thermal fan

http://oljeep.com/edge_parts_man.html

In Montana, I suspect a cooler weather and indeed for winter you could probably go electric and install a pusher fan in front of the radiator, get one off any vehicle that is at least 14 to 16", again some latter car will have the proper hardware to ease installation, use relay and manual switch if you are the single driver, otherwise an thermal switch to activate fan.


Ford contour and volvo are the usual suspect for the electric fan installation... again I have some mercedes spare, never installed to put as pusher fan that are used in these models to help cool the AC condenser. You could keep the fan clutch in a box ready to install if the electric fan was not enough.... but this winter, it should not be a problem.


the ford contour from the amc site on the I6

http://www.theamcforum.com/forum/ford-contour-fans_topic100292.html

here is the volvo from the rangerstation

https://therangerstation.com/tech_library/volvo_electric_fan.shtml